I have decided that 2012 is my year to pass the CPA Exam!

Let me introduce myself by telling all of you my very sad and embarrassingly long journey with the CPA Exam so far:

This is scary and sad to write.  I started my journey by receiving my first NTS in September 2006. I proceeded to take AUD and BEC in the last window of 2006, however I failed both due to my own lack of studying.

I took both again in the 2nd window of 2007, but failed and took a break.  I got serious and took both again in the 2nd window of 2008 and passed both.  Took FAR and REG on and off from 3rd window of 2008 until last window of 2009, failures, and lost AUD and BEC.

I got serious again and passed AUD, BEC and REG again between 1st-3rd windows of 2010.  At that point I just had FAR.  Life took over between work and personal issues, and I never got FAR passed, so I sit here today with all sections lost, no sections passed, and a 1 year old at home.

This is VERY SAD, especially since I know I am smart enough to pass this exam. My lack of passing has had 98% to do with my attitude about passing and my commitment to studying.

So now we are almost to April of 2012. I’m not getting any younger, my life isn’t getting any less hectic, and I NEED this exam to be behind me. I think the difference between now and the past is my actual attitude about the exam.

I wanted it before, but I wanted it to come easy like school always came easy to me. I rebelled against the fact that I couldn’t use my usual study tactics to pass this exam. The massive failing scores also weighed me down.

But now, I am taking a whole new attitude about this exam. It will not defeat me. I am armed with Wiley books from 2011 and also the Wiley Test Bank and NINJA Notes.

My new plan is to try and be done by November, but my new approach is not to get my NTS and schedule a day to work towards.  Instead my plan is to not get the NTS and not schedule the exam until I know I am ready.  This way when life gets in the way and I get a week behind my study goal, I don't shoot myself in the foot.

So my tentative goal is to take REG in mid-May, FAR in mid-July, then AUD or BEC at the end of August and the other mid to late October. This gives me a little buffer to have everything done by the end of 2012 and plenty of time to study for each section.

I wish everyone luck in their studies, and I look forward to sharing my progress here with all of you. I think this can help keep me accountable, and maybe my gruesome story will help others to not go down the same path as me.

Good luck either studying or taking your exams this week!